Minor Pairs: definition | Glossary

Major currencies, the dollar away:the minors are crosses that trade each day.

Currency pairs that do not include the US dollar but feature other major currencies, such as EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, or GBP/JPY.

Also known as cross pairs, they generally have slightly wider spreads than majors.

In plain words

Minor pairs, also called crosses, are pairs made of two major currencies where neither is the US dollar. EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY and GBP/JPY are examples.

See it move

Raise or lower EUR

EUR rises against GBP: the pair’s price goes up

Two currencies, the euro and the pound, are bound together as one pair with no dollar between them; the euro, on the left, is the base and the pound is the quote.To try it, point at the diagram, drag a finger across it or use the slider: raise one side and see the other fall.

Why it matters

Crosses let a trader take a view on two currencies directly, without going through the dollar. They are generally traded less than the majors, so their spreads are commonly somewhat wider, and their price reflects the two dollar pairs that lie behind them.

Worked example

An example only. The figures are round and invented for the arithmetic: they are not market prices.

In an invented market EUR/USD stands at 1.2000 and GBP/USD at 1.5000.

1One euro buys 1.2000 dollars; one pound buys 1.5000 dollars
2EUR/GBP = EUR/USD ÷ GBP/USD
31.2000 ÷ 1.5000 = 0.8000

The cross rate EUR/GBP is 0.8000: one euro buys 0.80 pounds.

A common mistake

“Minor” does not mean small or obscure: these are pairs of heavily used currencies, and the name only marks the absence of the dollar. Pairs that include a thinly traded currency are called exotics.